show what you're doing awake at this hour. our producer alex -- >> i'm awake so i have time to order my copy of "american freak show." >> good thing. you only have 282 hours to get your copy. >> i'm awake. carl paladino is outside my josing he wants to beat me up. >> that dude is scary. he was about to lay him out. we'll talk about that and more right now on "morning joe." you were, when i was first met you doing the abc show not nearly as liberal as you are today. how did that happen? >> well, the country changed. >> you didn't change? >> the people were -- basically yes. at some point in the last 20 years the left moved to the center and the right moved into

a mental institution. the republican party now is just a bunch of religious lunatics, civil war reenactors. i don't think it was me who changed so much. >> wow. a lot goings-on this morning. good morning everyone. welcome to "morning joe." it's the top of the hour. look at what we've got here. donny deutsche is here. harold ford junior author of "more davids than goliaths." willie has just sat down. are you okay, donny. >> i found out "morning joe" facts that the 6:00 hour, very interesting. kudos to all of you early risers, the power people, the more powerful the earlier they are up. as an ad guy, i learned something today. >> from 6:00 to 7:00 and they're all sweating, just like me. i'm sweating because my body is still trying to digest the three

big macs i ate for breakfast. most of them are watching on the treadmill or stair master. that's fascinating stuff. as you move towards 8:00 the audience gets older. >> fun demographic facts from "morning joe." >> there you go. >> we always talk about what's on the front page of "new york times," "the washington post." i came in here, i sat down as i do 30 seconds before the show begins. everybody here is talking about one story. this is the saddest story on the front of the "new york post." i think it's on "the new york times" front page, too. willie, what's the story here. >> an 18-year-old freshman from ridge woods, new jersey, my hometown, i should point out. was apparently filmed by his roommate -- secretly filmed. >> on a webcam. >> in a sexual en countser. it was posted on facebook.

and apparently the young man was so embarrass $by it that he jumped to his death off the george washington bridge. in fact, posted a message on facebook right before he did it, saying jumping off the gw bridge, sorry. an 18 yards kid. >> they want to prosecute, and i any they should, these two kids as a hate crime. allegedly it was a gay video and obviously whatever reason, this poor young man was embarrassed. they should prosecute these kids to the hilt. it's cruel. it just shows one more misuse and scary instance of this 24-7 everything photographed world. >> young people have access to all technology. and they have the ability, unlike us, to use it. they know intuitively how to use these things. they don't have the ethics developed in life to understand -- obviously it's an extreme case of right and wrong. >> they can't figure out what

strikes these kids as a prank ends up being something that costs a live. >> so ease sy to do. >> what is the nerve that hit everybody and us that made us say, that is the saddest thing? what is it here that is getting to us so much. >> i don't know. i think the kid -- >> the kid, kind of awkward, quiet sort of kid. >> played the violin. >> i also think he was struggling with his sexuality. it was a leap for him to do what he was doing in privacy and then to have it broadcast -- >> it's a type of bullying. >> which is so prevalent today. >> it went from zero to 200 miles an hour he was bullied and brought down by his own fears because they were plastered across the internet for everybody that he knows who is important to him to see.

it's unbelievably cruel. >> probably including a lot of people who had no idea that this was his identity. >> i don't know if you'll agree with me at all. but i wonder if these perpetrators or these kids who were charged had any clue how cruel they were being. >> i think they did. >> i think technology has erased -- >> i disagree. premeditated. >> i think technology has given them this sort of veil, well, it's okay. we can do it. i know how to do it. we can beep here and beep here. look, we can sext and there aren't a lot of ramifications. >> pictures speak. if you look at the images of those other two kids and this kid, you can tell the poor boy was an awkward boy. i think -- i don't think there's this naive, oh, that would be a nun any thing. i think it was cruel and intended to be cruel. >> the roommate actually tweeted

out. roommate asked for room until midnight. i turned on my webcam. i saw him making out with a dude. yay was the tweet from the roommate who filmed it. >> just idiots. >> there's a movie coming out in the next few weeks where they follow this -- it's a webcam following a kid having -- documenting his first encounter with a woman. he meets this woman on town, travels to see her. i think there might be a middle ground between donny and mika are saying. >> the thing is, it's like a game harold, with these kids, right? i was stunned years ago before facebook, it was my space. and some of the stuff that my son's friends posted, they posted of doing things and it was stunning. in fact, we found out there was a party at our house with a bunch of high school students

because the idiots posted pictures. they're so detached from reality, they think that because it's on twitter or facebook -- >> that is their new realtd, that it should all be shown. >> there is an emotional disconnect. >> one of the talks you have to have with your kids today versus grown up, talks about drugs and sex is now when you put something on the internet, it is there forever. you're 17 it's funny. when you're going for your first job interview -- i've had friends whose kids, a boyfriends put a picture of a daughter -- nothing horrible. but enough that it was embarrassing. you to tell your kids, particularly your daughters, every image of you will live forever. i don't care if you have the sweetest boyfriends in the world, no pictures. >> i had a situation where my then -- i think she was 10. she had a facebook page and there were pictures of her, just

a normal kid, beautiful. and singing. and i'm thinking why do i want everybody to be able to see this? i absolutely do not, and she's not allowed to have one. we had to shut it down. you're supposed to lie to kid one of those. kids do it across the board. it's a real issue with facebook. >> my 22-year-old son figured out, quote, facebook is the devil. he says why do i want to post pictures of myself and let people know where i am at all times? >> that boy is getting ready to run for office, i can tell. >> you met joey. that's joey. >> i know that feeling. >> speaking of that, we talked about kids acting irresponsibly with new technology. lexie giannoulias was here yesterday. >> a good guy, too. >> he's having happen to him what people in both parties have

had happened. they have the trailers where people, stalkers, they go around with video cameras. >> trackers. >> even when he and his girlfriend, his fiancee are having breakfast somewhere in chicago at 6:00 in the morning, the tracker will go to the next booth with nobody else in the restaurant and just film there. they pay these -- campaigns, the sleaziest stuff. >> i had it happened in '06. it was rampant in tennessee. >> they pay kids to go around with video cameras and try to get them to get punched. it's nonstop. >> did you do it to the other campaign? >> oh, yeah. when i looked at running for senate here in new york, i had a tracker following me from events to event to event, only to try to catch -- >> what's the point? >> as joe said, they try to catch you in some embarrassing

situation, catch you saying something out of context that they can probably piece together over a period of time. >> it's one thing to do that at a public speech which is what happened -- >> it's worse now. >> deval patrick, governor of massachusetts, his wife goes to whole foods and there will be a tracker three feet away from her taking video of her at all times. >> anybody who has one of these can have a tracker. >> let me get to this next story because it's a perfect tie. the race for governor of new york -- have you heard about this guys? it is getting personal. republican nominee carl paladino accusing democratic rival andrew cuomo of being unfaithful to his ex-wife years ago when they were married. >> wait, wait, waited. i'm sorry. can we stop for a second. how is that going to get a job for anybody in new york state that doesn't have a job in

upstate new york, a region where i live ravaged bibi unemployment? this clown is talking about what -- >> there's more. >> i know there's more. i want to stop here for a second. this clown is talking about andrew cuomo's personal life with his ex-wife. how is that going to get a job? >> it's not. >> how is that going to get anybody back to work? how is that going to save -- >> scary, desperate guy. >> pathetic. >> that's the word. pathetic. read the next sentence. according to a story published in plitd co-last night, paladino offered no proof of his claim and made it minutes after angrily declaring his 10-year-old daughter from his own affair ten years ago was off limits to the press. politico quotes paladino saying, has anyone asked andrew cuomo about his para mores when he was married or asked him why his wife left him or threw him out of the house?

has anyone ever done that? why are they intruding on my life? politico added that paladino nearly came to blows with "new york post" reporter frederick dicker who confronted him about the allegation. >> do you have any evidence to the charge you make? it's a simple question. >> of course i do. you'll get it at the appropriate time. at the appropriate time you'll get it >> i have a great suggestion for the dnc. put one 60-second commercial together, clips of lunatic, pathetic people like paladino, o'donnell, the greatest hits that show that basically this is the alternative. the status quo may not be perfect right now. but here is what it is, here is if greatest hits from the right

fringe, whatever the hell you want to call them, because it's stunning. wait, there's an al sternive out there. in many cases it's a frightening one. >> doesn't this marge lies paladino even more? doesn't this just push him farther and farther to the margins? >> yeah, yeah. >> no doubt about it. >> not helpful. >> tarringment reportedly grew so heated that paladino's aides had to move in, separate the men. the latest poll showing cuomo leading paladino by almost 20 points, 52-30. >> mr. paladino should climb under the rock of buffalo from which he came. >> a none-of-the-above choice. i'm just saying. >> not in this case. i'm a little biased because cuomo is a great guy. has stephen colbert delivered his last joke on capitol hill? testimony from the comedian may

have banned him from life. a day after her first gubernatorial debate, meg whitman confronts a political firestorm after allegations she knowingly employed an illegal immigrant. first we're bracing for severe weather. here is bill karins with the latest. >> as advertised, a rough morning commute. already have flash flood warnings around d.c. tornado watch from philadelphia southward. new york city not looking pretty. this picture behind me in times square shows it. heavy in and tropical downpours in the city. there's a look at times square. only going to get worse as we go through out the day. this is a 24-hour event. the storm system is located in the carolinas and all of the moisture is coming straight up like this. it's going to rush all the way through the heavy populated areas especially from new york city south wards down through d.c. i mentioned the tornado watch. we do have a tornado warning just south of virginia beach there. just south into the norfolk area. also watching a flash flood warning around the d.c. area,

already getting reports of roads with water covering them. that will be the problem in the big cities. our computers are forecasting as much as five inches of rain in the cities, especially north and west of new york and fimly, could be as much as six inches of rain in the next day or two. airports are going to be a big, big problem during the day high wind warning in effect for new york city. you get the general idea, probably the worse weather we've seen in the last few months. tomorrow morning still with us, but ending tomorrow afternoon is when the storm system will finally move out. give yourself extra time today. if you're heading the the airports, call ahead to see if your flight has been canceled or delayed. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

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i've only been here two years, guys. if you look at the checklist, we've covered about 70%. so i figure i need to have something to do for the next couple years. >> 70%? that's -- let's check the list. okay. he made a checklist. worked out, got a dog. he did meet stevie wonder, won a nobel peace prize, got an ipad. all right. okay. he only has three more on the list. >> i'm president obama and nancy pelosi talked to chet edwards, he stood up for them. >> he voted against the trillion dollar federal budget. >> we can't afford it.

it can't afford it. >> when washington liberals wanted to take away our guns, chet said no. >> holy [ bleep ]. those were the ads that democrats are running? what ads are the republicans running? >> vote for me, and i'll punch president obama in the balls. >> jimmy donn for congress. in the balls. >> that was a good -- >> those were funny. >> welcome back. 20 past the hour. >> they're bragging about voting against the party. >> the ultimate insider is the ultimate outsider. >> that's amazing. >> you just wait.

>> swing district democrats who have voted with the president and congress are struggling even if they're now asserting their independence. >> and the "wall street journal," the house by a wide margin passed legislation to penalize china's foreign exchange practices send ag powerful warning to beijing. the measure would allow but not require the u.s. to levy tariffs on countries that undervalue their currencies. "usa today," fund-raising reports show that powerful interests are banking on republican john boehner to be the next speaker of the house. the ohio lawmaker collected more than $7 million for his campaign in leadership committees, more than that of speaker nancy pelosi. >> not over until it's over. jpmorgan chase, one of the nation's leading banks announced it will freeze foreclosures in about half of the country because of flawed paperwork, a move that wall street analysts will pressure the rest of the industry to follow suit.

>> miami herald, cuba is expected to begin drilling offshore for oil next year, possibly within 50 miles of the florida keys. >> the "san francisco chronicle," a political bombshell or just manipulation? accusations that gop gubernatorial candidate meg whitman had an illegal immigrant as her housekeeper for nine years have all the elements of a late campaign october surprise. the charges sent whitman's campaign team into overdrive as it worked nonstop to limit political damage from the allegations. >> to your point earlier, is there any voter that care about that? >> in california? who in california is going to be shocked by that. >> one more story here. >> this is just breaking. >> there are published reports this morning that hollywood legend tony curtis has died at the age of 85. according to entertainment tonight the actor's daughter jamie lee curtis confirmed the death. he was perhaps best known for

his role in "some like it hot" alongside marilyn monroe and jack lemon. sad news. now to politico. willie? >> let's go to chief white house correspondent for politico mike allen with a look at the politico playbook. let's talk midterms. house democrats spent a lot of time taking shots and mocking the republican pledge to america. now they've got to start defining their own message. why would things change all of the sudden if they're able to keep power? >> republicans are saying what do you got? so far it's a blank piece of paper. you'll remember back in 2006 when they became -- were running for the majority, they famously did their six for '06, what they would do when they're in office. but now you go to the democrats' website, it says moving america forward. under it is things they've done in the past. politico's jake sherman asked around to democratic strategists and he found them sort of in a

defensive crouch not wanting to put anything out there because they said that would just make them vulnerable. of course, it's harder when your president is in the white house. you have to take your cues from him. president obama has not really outlined what he's going to do in the years ahead, although we know he's going to talk a lot about reform and being a change agent. but that doesn't help candidates this fall. >> mike, we know one thing democrats are doing, inviting comedians to testify on capitol hill and acting outraged when the comedian tells jokes. stephen colbert may have told his final joke on capitol hill after the testimony last week, banned for life, huh? >> he did. politico's erica lovely discovered that finally, finally capitol hill aids are catching on to the fact that, if you book your boss on stephen colbert, stephen colbert just might be funny, he might just make fun of your boss. it took years for people to figure this out. his booking of congressman

falling off a cliff, republicans and democrats, both campaign committees tell us, would you let your candidates go on colbert. we'll going to emphasize local media bookings. >> i don't get it. what did they think was going to happen when he came and sat on the hill? >> these kids were so excited that they had booked their boss on colbert. i'm like, dude, that's not good. we talked to one office, representative lynn westmoreland. he's the guy who couldn't name the ten commandments even though he had been pushing a bill on them. a former aide said the colbert show was like herpes, it kept coming back and haunting them for years. >> 6:00 in the morning and our first herpes reference. >> that's our pledge to the viewers. mike, thanks so much. >> it's early. >> it is. >> i hear you're doing a herpes special tomorrow, the full half

hour. >> it is. >> so who was the guy that went on colbert and joked about doing cocaine? >> oh, yeah. florida. weschler, right? >> oh, yeah, weschler. it was weschler. remember weschler stepped into that one? he was joking about doing coke with colbert. >> isn't the playbook usually running for office, don't make jokes about snorting cocaine. >> he was running unopposed. culvert said let's see if we can get you to lose the race even though you don't have an opponent so he fed him the lines. still ahead, former florida governor jeb bush -- >> speaking of florida. >> and lawrence o'donnell -- is he going to interview us? plus lawrence explains his line of questioning for levi johnston the other night on "the last

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welcome back to "morning joe." a live look at the capitol, sun still coming up in washington, d.c. the east coast is bracing for a major storm this morning. here is the latest radar loop showing the massive clouds rolling through the region. washington, d.c. is under a flash flood warning right now. bill karins will have more on that. >> does anybody understand, these are the visuals we've looked at our entire lives. does anybody understand what those are? we understand the words. >> bill, took the mic on. >> does anybody on the planet, when you're looking at the green and yellow, the visual demonstration. >> hold on. let bill speak. the voice of god. >> red is the worst. >> green is the rain. then we highlight the colors, the brighter the colors, the worse the rain. it's the intensity. >> we're all news people. did anybody know that. >> you educated the country. >> the yellow part would be the heaviest of the rain.

>> we're going to get pounded today. how many inches. >> d.c. already picked up two inches. about three to six by the time we're done. >> i'm really glad you clair fid that. thank you, bill. >> thanks, donny. >> just trying to clear things up for the american populous. >> and for me. congress is free to head home to campaign for the midterm elections after voting overnight to adjourn a week earlier than initially planned. house democrats followed the senate's lead agreeing to postpone a vote on the volatile issue of expiring bush tax cuts until after the midterms. their last major legislative acti action before shutting down, they muscled through the legislation to provided 7.4 billion to rescue workers and other people who got sick after being exposed to toxic fumes from the 9/11 terror attacks.

>> that's great news. so much posturing going on there. >> how does somebody vote against that? what's the logic other than you're a republican, who can argue with helping out 9/11 -- >> first responders? i don't know. it's like saying who hates kittens. it's ridiculous. >> we said on this show and joe and barnicle went back and forth, this is precisely the kind of stuff that makes people wonder -- willie agreed -- the kind of stuff that makes people say congress in washington doesn't work. no matter how much we try to explain it was a procedural list, we didn't get an opportunity to be heard. people sit at home and wonder, it's like my children, if they can't agree the people who rushed in the buildings shouldn't have health care trying to save those who suffered the worst attack on american soil in at least 60 years. >> might explain the approval ratings. >> it does. all right. sports. >> sure. let's do some sports.

>> smooth transition. yesterday we told you about the disgruntled tampa bay rays barking at their fans for not showing up. >> that segue came straight off -- >> stop it. >> fans in florida lined up at the door to watch those rays. were they inspired by the team, fired up by evan longoria's comments? no. giving away 20,000 free tickets. that's one way to fill up the building. let's see how the rays did with a packed house. seventh inning, no score. the orioles, feel lirks pie beating the rays and beating the yankees. a triple over the head scores two runs, 36,000 fans watched the rays lose their final home game 2-0. >> showalter, a pence cola guy, defending the tampa bay fans. when you adjust for population,

they have the seventh highest attendance in the major leagues. >> are you doing their pr? >> do they pay you? >> what about cincinnati? sold out every night. >> just trying to help. a wild ending between the mariners and rangers. the rangers just in the play-offs. game is tied, ninth inning, nelson cruz strikes out. oh, no, we're going to extra innings. the ball got away on the strikeout. you can still run to first base. the catcher tries to throw him out at first. throws it into the outfield. mitch moreland comes all the way around from first base on a strikeout. that sums up the mariners' season. rangers moving to the play-offs, winning 6-5. we'll show you one last red sox -- david ortiz laying down a bunt for a base hit. watch the mockery that follows. the pitcher laughs.

guillen is laughing, the white sox manager. then he does an impersonation of ortiz. he gets in his wheelchair. two teams with nothing to play for. white sox win the game 5-2. >> i love that. red sox with nothing to play for. >> be quiet. i love. let's check out the play-off picture. al east, rays are up on the yankees. if the rays lose tonight, yankees will be tied for first place. the fwings are in. rangers are in. national league, phillies are in. what you're really looking at is the nl west. giants two games up on the padres. hey play each other. it looks right now it will be giants-braves. we'll see what happens this weekend. >> this is the last weekend? >> four days left in the season. >> did you see burns' documentary? >> i'm a yankee fan -- >> it was so wonderful.

>> it was a wonderful film. >> barnicle was the star of it. barnicle and doris. >> it's good tv. >> joe was live tweeting. i had to stop looking at my blackberry, what a great night for baseball and red sox. >> a guy from st. louis responded to my 18th point about 2004. he said now i know wian key fans hate the red sox so much. >> we need each other. >> we do need each other. >> who do we beat up on? >> it's amazing how that took me back. i started tearing up. johnny damon hits a grand slam. donny, that was wonderful. >> where is barnicle? >> does write-in candidate lisa

murkowski actually have a shot to win that senate election in alaska? new poll numbers hot off the press in the florida senate race. mika's must-read opinion pages. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. [ female announcer ] it can creep up on you. dry skin. that's why there's lubriderm® daily moisture. it contains the same nutrients naturally found in healthy skin.

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last night john was joined by "huffinigton post" founder arianna huffingpo who made a stunning invitation to anybody attending john's rally. >> just come to the "huffinigton post" 560 broadway in soho and we'll take you with us, as many buses as there are people to

fill them. >> you're busing people to jon stewart's sanity rally? i'm sorry, darling, i'm calling [ bleep ]. >> i just realized the word he said. new poll on the florida senate ratio oh. >> the last break we were talking and you were talking to no one. >> she was talking to me which is the equivalent of talking to no one. >> thank you. that's heroic. that's a gentleman. i am sorry. tired, was up with the kids really late last night. physics with my 14-year-old. >> chris, what's going on? >> i don't even know where to start. >> you hear what she said about the green rain patterns? she thought the yellow parts were sunshine. >> i shouldn't even be here. i'm a housewife. i need to go home. >> nobody is objecting if that's what -- >> i love you. >> i always have loved you. and i think sometimes bright

minds drift a little bit. we hear voices. and we talk to the voices and the average person doesn't understand. >> it's called a whole bunch of crazy in this case. >> mixed with some blue pill. >> i'm not going to deny that either. new quinnipiac poll just released, rubio 46, crist 33, meek 18. what does it mean? >> keep this up. i tell you what. harold, without a dramatic change in the dynamics in this race it's over. marco rubio is going to coast to victory. >> the "wall street journal"-nbc poll showed 71% of republicans identify with tea partiers, it's clear that rubio is benefiting from that. the only thing that can happen, as you and i both know, little over a month left, if there's some shift, some event, charlie emerged and surged three months ago. >> the bp spill. he showed great leadership in the bp spill as a governor.

and his numbers went up. >> chris got weschler's endorsement in the last few days. you have to wonder if any of that has an impact with south florida florida. can that shift support amongst floridians to crist. >> he can take almost all of meek's numbers and still lose to marco. >> the question is marco is at 45%, 46%. i haven't seen him higher than that. if he stays there and crist can make the case hey, you have to vote for me if you want to ensure that a tea partyer doesn't win, i don't know if he can. >> a three-person race. 46% is a landslide. >> we just watched the guy score from first base on a strikeout. i think you got to -- >> i tell you, there's another wild race that you go from one end of the country to the other. florida to alaska, you've got a little bit of caution in the polls. let's put the poll numbers up and talk about them.

>> all right. we've got joe miller at 38, lisa murkowski at 36 and scott mcadams at 22. >> there is actually in this -- keep this up a little bit. there's another poll that actually has murkowski up pretty comfortably. the problem with this is, donny, she's a write-in candidate. you say the name in a poll, that's one thing. but then when people actually go to vote, they don't see her name on the ballot. >> she, though, was responsible for alaskans getting a lot of stimulus. there's a lot of good will with her. gri with you from a behavioral point of view, but it could be interesting. >> she's the most popular politician right now in the state of alaska. >> writing in candidate that has no history i think is a different model. if people bring you in with your heart behaviorally, there's much more of a chance. >> threes the number again. chris, who was tweeting about buying a house in washington?

miller? >> miller. >> i would wait until you actually win to put those tweets out. mika, when i wrote my book a year ago, i said the republican party is mature enough to realize that one size didn't fit all. you couldn't get conservative guys that look like me, think like me, vote like me from the south and have a national party. and that's the thing i think sometimes that gets lost in all of the talking. there are so many different parts of this country and something is happening. while democrats are bleeding in the south, bleeding in the midwest, out west their support is firming up. look at this california poll. a big shift in california, a big shift in washington state. >> here we go. >> dechl kralts are coming home in those regions. >> barbara boxer 52, carly fiorina, 43%. then jerry brown, 52. meg whitman 43. there's some back story to these

numbers or at least in addition to them given the controversy. >> the commonality, obvious commonality with two very, very wealthy successful business female candidates. i wonder, even though they're the quintessential outsiders, that the people, no, no, you're a different kind of establishment but you're establishment and you're money people and i'm not buying it. >> again, the most surprising or clear of this is connecticut, don't you think? >> connecticut is another region. that really surprises me. harold, tennessee is different from new york? >> very. >> is different from california, is different from whatever. it is a lot of times geography for a politician is destiny. >> i think geography defines politics as much as the partisan divide does today. the republican in tennessee is different than a republican in california. the democrats in those states are different as well. heading into these last few

weeks, democrats with obama on the road are trying to close what they pro verbally call the enthusiasm gap. if democrats are ready to put aside disappointment and as bill clinton said on your show, not allow the disappointment to cloud their judgment and go to the poll and vote for democrats, democrats are hold in both chambers. the pledge that's put out, the question is whether or not it impacts people and convinces people to vote for republicanless if they have no real answers to the big questions. >> you have to be smart. it's not whom moj nized. barack obama is not going to help a democrat in virginia or tennessee, but take him out to california for somebody on the bubble. take him to washington state, to wisconsin. >> it's human beings. the reason connecticut is as tight as it is, it's not a sea change. it's that blumenthal has run a horrible campaign, and $50 million is being spent against it by mcmahon. you can do all the

philosophizing you want. it's what happened in massachusetts. it's a person by person situation. >> person by person. also geography. meg whitman spent over $100 million in california. sometimes it's just not enough. connecticut, though, it's a state barack obama won 65%, 66%. new england is back in play. not a single republican represents anybody in the house of representatives in all of new england. it's back in play now. it started with scott brown and now we're seeing it in connecticut. >> things won't change. jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. >> exactly. all about jobs. coming up, al sharpton will be here. first, willie, how are you going to degrade us? >> with helm from lawrence o'donnell. lawrence sat down with levi. we broke down the tape yesterday. there's a new twist, one we should have seen. if the interview sounded familiar, it should. it's a verbatim interview from

something we heard two years ago. >> really? recently, sharp made a major leap forward

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we've paid over $400 million in claims and set up a $20 billion independently-run claims fund to cover lost income until people impacted can get back to work. and our efforts aren't coming at tax-payer expense. i know people are wondering-- now that the well is capped, is bp gonna meet its commitments? i was born in new orleans. my family still lives here. i'm gonna be here until we make this right.

let's do it now. >> let's do. >> time for news you can't use. we talked an awful lot yesterday about levi johnston's sit-down interview with mr. lawrence

o'donnell grilling him on the issues of the day. >> the guy is running for mayor. >> running for mayor of wasilla. you want to know how lawrence prepares for an important interview like this? he said i'm interviewing levi johnston, how should i approach this? what's my preparation. he announced last night, he locked himself into the office, he said i'm going to google the katie couric interview with sarah palin and cut and paste those exact questions. put them into my jiscript. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as a separate scientific principle or one of several theories? >> i think it should be taught as an effective principal. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories sglou ear kind of getting over my head on these things. i don't know how to answer that question. >> the united states is deeply unpopular in pakistan, do you

think the pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders. >> i don't believe that new president zardari has that mission at all. >> like i said, i don't watch a whole lot of tv. >> i like him. i'm starting to like him. they were better thar hers. >> those were the famous katie couric interviews. >> let me ask. who were you less uncomfortable with? who were you more uncomfortable with the answers to those questions? >> sarah palin. >> levi, he said he didn't know. >> circumstances are slightly different. >> bristol, are they back together? >> she's on "dancing with the stars." she's busy. >> what's he doing? he said he's got a lot of stuff to do around the house. >> i like that guy. >> stop it. we understand "american

freak show" now kids are waiting. >> just a few hours away. >> show it to me. >> the sands are slipping through hour glass. just 281 hours left. >> there's another writer out there from jersey. thank god it come a little later. we would have collided. >> snooki went ahead and got herself a book deal. simon and shuster's gallery books announcing yesterday, snooki is writing a novel about a girl looking for love on the boardwalk. it will be called "a shore thing." she's getting some help writing the book. >> i'll be at barnes & noble standing online. >> here is her statement. i'm pumped to announce to my fans a project i'm working for some time. this book will have you falling in love at the shore. it's a shore thing. that statement from nickie "snooki". >> just imagine snooki plus 15,

what that life is going to be like? >> the reverend al sharpton next on "morning joe." ♪ i love my grandma. i love you grandma. grandma just makes me happy.

♪ to know, know, know you grandma is the bestest. the total package. grandpa's cooooooooool. way cool. ♪ grandpa spoils me rotten. ♪ to know, know, know you ♪ is to love... some people call us frick and frack. we do finger painting. this is how grandpa and i roll. ♪ and i do [ pins fall ] grandma's my best friend. my best friend ever. my best friend ever. ♪ [ laughing ] [ boy laughs ] ♪ to know, know, know you after this we're gonna get ice cream. can we go get some ice cream? yeah. ♪ and i do ♪ and i do ♪ and i do

how did you get so damn

rich? i saw a something today where -- it's probably embarrassing, you're the tenth wealthiest person in the world or something. >> that's not embarrassing. [ cheers and applause ] >> what am i talking about? >> i like it. he's so funny about stuff like that. >> washington, d.c., reagan national airport. big storm expected to come to the area there. there's capitol hill. we're back in new york city. times square lit up, raining a little bit. pack your patience, everybody. >> so donny deutsche, you're an ad guy. >> i like ad mogul. >> you, for instance in that letterman clip, letterman tries

to make bloomberg uncomfortable about being rich. what does he do? >> he owns it, man. he teed it off. he said, why would i be embarrassed? that's a good thing. i think most people would go for that. he's a brilliant, thinker, politician, could be the next president of the united states. >> we were talking and the conversation was going around. said, of course, talking to somebody else, money can't buy everything. he was just sitting there. he's like, what can't it buy? >> happiness. >> happiness. >> but it solves a lot of problems. i'm not comparing myself to mike bloombe bloomberg. >> is the white collar back in? >> here with us now president of the national action network -- >> i've got a couple --

>> very wall street. >> i have a couple white-colored shirts in my closet. i haven't had the nerve to bring them out. >> i want to hear what the reverend says. what it does say, it is very polarizing. if i were you with this mass audience, i would not recommend it on the show. same thing i tell you not to wear the whale pants at the cape, don't wear them here. but the reverend -- >> reverend al sharpton joins us. >> i'm sorry for them. >> the white collar to me represent as clean neck. you're sure the person washes their neck in the morning and there's nothing on tlp. >> that's another way of looking at it. >> are you worried that joe biden is watching the show? >> now, see, everything goes political with joe. we'll starter tloi day.

>> we love joe. we love joe. this past week nbc universal has been doing education nation. i reminded people at a town hall event that you were out really early with the president, with newt gingrich, with a lot of different people fighting for reform saying education reform is a civil rights issue, and we've got to go after the special interests if they're standing in the way of helping kids. >> first let me say i think it was great what nbc universal did. national action network honored zuckerman this year. what they did this week, if every media entity did it -- this is above partisan politics. i came to some of the sessions. it must be a commitment everyone has. if the country can't come together around educating the young people of this country when we're 21 and 25 in math and science, what are we going to unite around? >> you're right, jeff zucker has

been real visionary here. he pushed us up to harlem to look at what was going on up there. we were stunned. this entire week, you look at what's happened -- >> they brought in everybody. i remember almost eight months ago i went to see phil griffin about something. he was in the office dreaming about doing these kinds of things. i think, one, i wanted to give a compliment to you guys. but i think the real issue now is what do we do coming out of education nation, and what do we do is i think we have to get in the trenches. i think what jeffrey canada is doing. but we've got to make that live in the public schools. we've got to bring the teachers, everybody in. with randi weingarten tomorrow, we've got to find common ground. >> including charter schools. >> including charter schools. >> you're exactly right. this is not about cherry picking charter schools and making them successful, making them an oasis

in the middle of the desert. we have to figure out what's working in harlem with zucker. how do we take that from the public charter schools and get them into the public schools? >> you will never get all the students into the charter school. where you have parents sitting around waiting to hit the lotto on their kid's education, somewhere to bring that to all of america. i think that's what the president's vision was. >> willie, you talked about finland and make all the finland jokes you want. teachers are in the top 10% of paid professionals. until we elevate teachers, nothing else matters. it's a simple business solution. >> you can't do it by just attacking them. >> got to encourage them. >> speaking of that, american express has sponsored our "waiting for superman" town hall on sunday night. they allowed us to have extra time in that hour for a more

robust discussion. am ex is pledging $1 million to donor's choice and various school causes. if 100,000 people will pledge their time to education, that would help, pledges need to be received by this friday. go to membersproject.com/pledge. we'll be putting it up on the screen. >> here is the deal. we don't usually do this. here is the deal. whether american express is going to give $1 million or not to this education effort, wouldn't really matter. we still need you to go in the public school in your neighborhood, in your community. we need your help. america's kids need your help. this is -- i've been saying this is a moral crisis. it's also a national security crisis. it's an economic crisis. the united states of america used to be number one in education k-12. we've fallen. we're 22, 23, 24. what can be done?

we're talking about partisan issues. i'll tell you what can be done. you help. >> we're not asking for money. no one is asking for money. it's time. these kids need your time. if you have something to give. can you mentor, can you help? if there's something you can do, give your time. >> go to this website. don't volunteer money, volunteer your time to help children and in helping children be helping america. if we get 100,000 people, american express is going to write a $1 million check. that's just -- >> membersproject.com/pledge. >> we'll keep that up through out the hour. >> it's absolutely critical. >> my mom is a teacher. >> my mom is a social work esh at harlem academy and new york harbor school on governor's island. one of the things she always says and it's no surprise to everyone is she has the kids,

she can hemp the kids for eight hours a day. there are 16 hours still left in the day that she loses, slips a little bit. she can't control that. this is great, we thank american express for the pledge. we can do the shows we want, but it doesn't change the circumstances in a lot of the neighborhoo neighborhoods. >> i hope the people that change the system are the parents that come and step out on this. one of the things that i talk about in the tour, challenge the parents. i'm a guy from the community in the trenches fighting these issues. i'm saying, wait a mint, you can't put it on the teachers. the parents are not stepping up. when i go to a school with 4,000 kids and 15 parents at a pta meeting, that's irresponsibility and lack of taking this seriously. gri up in a single parent home on welfare. my mom went to all of these

sessions that you had to go to and made me do my homework. she had dropped out of school. she didn't even understand what she was making me do. so when you get people involved, that's why national action network has been advocating this. i don't want to hear excuses because i came through the same way but we made it work. you to be committed to your kid more than you are outraged about the unfairness in the system. yes, there's unfairness. we have to straighten it out. nothing balances disinterest than what's happening with our children. >> we talked, donny, last hour about a story that doesn't usually fit in our wheel house. we usually talk about afghanistan or economics. a story on front page of the "new york post," also a story on "the new york times" -- you asked a question last hour. i want to ask why is it i get on the set 30 seconds before we started? i decided to get here early because you were here. why is it that in that 30-second

time everybody was talking about this one story. >> the story for people that don't know, a tragic story, a young 18-year-old boy at rutgers. >> rutgers university freshman. >> two other kids videotaped him having some encounter with another young man. put it on the internet. was terribly embarrassed and ended up killing himself. the thing that touched everybody is there's two things at play here. you can see there's a bullying aspect. you see this was a sweet boy. it is this 24-7 internet, everything photographed world that kids do not understand the implications of in every way, shape or form that we will be living with forever. it's a stunning, tragic horrible example. as i said in the last hour, prosecute those two kids as a hate crime. what they did was cruel, premeditated. in certain ways no different than pushing this kid off the bridge. >> as willie said last hour, this kid did a facebook posting eight minutes before he jumped

off the george washington bridge and he says, jumping off the g.w. bridge. sorry. donny, how old are your kids? >> 3, 7 and 23. >> you know about the 23-year-old. i'm not talking about my son. my -- my two sons have had friends who have done stupid things. you sat zit there and go how in the hell can they do it? you realize, wait a second, i'm not excusing them. sometimes kids do stupid, thoughtless things. sometimes it's a game to them. oh, we're going to embarrass so and so. i'm not defending these kids at all. you talked about this being prosecuted as a hate crime. i just know that sometimes teenagers do really, really stupid things. >> teenagers driving drunk, okay teenagers are more prone to do that.

>> i do think a message needs to be sent. >> i agree with joe that there are some people just starting this. what i can't understand, what you were talking about the first hour because i do watch mika early in the morning, is when you see political leaders who want to be heads of state government running around doing the same thing, videoing and going in restaurants 6:00 in the morning, that's even as frightening to me as kids doing this because, if you're going to tell the kids to be responsible and you see people stalking in politics or acting like paladino and this kind of recklessness. >> that's apples and oranges. it's one thing understanding whether you're a kid or politician that we live in a 24-7 documented world. >> it's not apples and oranges, i don't think. if our political leaders are doing this to get elected and we

were joking about snooki about a show i've never seen before, my kids grow up and see this all the time on "jersey shore" that's about the shaky cameras. let's catch a moment where snooki punches somebody on the face. do you think if one of the characters on "jersey shore" was sneaking out and making out with a young guy, don't you think they wouldn't show jimmy kissing bobby. they would promote it. all the guys would be laughing, calling him names. that's our culture. >> that's our example for our children. >> everywhere our kids go, these two kids, believe you me, my heart breaks for this young man. when i saw these two kids and go, oh, god, they look like people my kids went to high school with. facing jersey shore. they see mtv's "real world," that crap, they see it 24-7. it is the culture. they're told that is the cool, hip, edgy thing to do. >> you're defending.

>> i'm not defending these people. they are bullies. it's shameless what they did. there's no doubt about it. i don't even have a problem with them going to jail. i'm just saying there's a bigger problem than these two kids. this is the norm now. they think this is the cool thing to do, taking pictures of friends in realtime and posting it on the web. >> you and i have seen with both of our kids them do things online that they shouldn't be doing. >> you sit there horrified. >> the game has changed. in college 15 years ago, 20 years ago, you'd hear stories of guys hiding in the closet when you're in there. it's a prank. now if you can film that and broadcast it to people and humiliate someone, the stakes are way up. this kid is 18 years old from ridgewood, new jersey, my hometown. violinist in the ridgewood high school orchestra. he was struggling with his sexuality. apparently, according to one of his friends, his own parents didn't know he was gay. so when he was caught on camera

allegedly kissing another man, he said this is how my parents are going to find out, on facebook, because it's broadcast to the world. that was too much for him to live with. that's something else we need to think about. >> it's terrible that the poor kid is having to cope with all of this at the same time. of course, the parents, i don't know the parents. what an 18-year-old kid doesn't understand. >> it's the world to him. >> trnts pa would want him to come home. they would hug him and talk through it. >> hopefully. >> hopefully. >> in another time you'd worry about your friends knowing. now with the new kind of world that we're in everybody knows it. so in his world, the whole world knows because your parents, your relatives, is his whole world. >> i think the moral to the story is, bringing it back to education and parenting, the tool kit now for parenting, we all know about telling our kids about cigarettes, about alcohol, about drugs, about driving, certain fundamentals about safe

sex, this is now number five or number six. what you do with this, it's now in the handbook. that's the horrible lesson of all this. >> you, donny, i can't believe i'm saying it, are absolutely right. >> i think also his parents talking about would these kids be accepted at home? i think it's also important form parents to tell their kids, listen, and i gave my kids the talkerly on, i don't care what you've done, come to me, tell me about it. >> no matter what age. >> we will walk through it together. that's what -- >> every great parent has that point. >> no matter what age. when my daughter in college tells me she's watching willie on "too early," i know she didn't wake up early. up next, savannah guthrie has this morning's developing stories on the white house.

she's on rahm watch this morning awaiting his decision on leaving the white house. "morning joe" has an exclusive first look at the new issue of "time" magazine. first we're bracing for severe weather. here is bill karins with the latest. >> as advertised, a miserable morning commute. the heavy rainfall. everything in green is raining, yellow is heavy rain. thunderstorms mixed in. everything heading in one direction. it's not moving through, it's either heading north or northwest. that means we're getting a training effect. same rain is going over the same areas. that's when we start to have big problems. we lls have tornado watches. somewhere a couple of tornado warnings. one near the norfolk, virginia beach area. three tornadoes reported overnight. that's a concern from philadelphia southward, mostly to the east of i-95 through richmond, norfolk and eastern north carolina. we have flash flood warnings. numerous reports of road closures in the state of maryland at this time. everything in maroon is a flash flood warning. that's a large area that's under

that warning. also high wind warning for new york city today. we could expect winds gusting to 50 mipsz. ran one of our computer runs to tell us how much rain we're expecting, the heaviest rain is shifting to the north and west and philly in new york stock exchange city. this area in red is the potential for six to eight inches of rain that would be to the mountainous areas, too. that would be big-time river flooding in the days ahead. this is about a 24-hour event. morning commute is going to be rough, afternoon commute. airports all day today. things will slowly improve during your friday morning. we'll give i don't updates right during the day. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. replant a forest?

maybe you want to rebuild homes for those in need? or, maybe you want to help improve our schools? whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference. got the mirrors all adjusted? you can see everything ok? just stay off the freeways, all right? i don't want you going out on those yet. and leave your phone in your purse, i don't want you texting. >> daddy... ok! ok, here you go. be careful. >> thanks dad. >> and call me--but not while you're driving. we knew this day was coming.

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as i listen to the questi s questions -- >> welcome back. >> way to go t.j. wow, you're a great director. >> that was the ppt doing a back yard question-and-answer session in iowa. >> this paladino guy, going around accusing people of having affairs and stuff like that when he's had kids outside of wedlock. it's all the rage these days i hear. look at this guy. this is who the republicans put up to beat andrew cuomo. he looks like grandpa munster. >> that could be an unfair photograph. >> no. he looks like grandpa punster.

>> you're looking at the "new york post." >> what do you think they do? >> they take a picture. >> what do you think? i'm telling you. it's grandpa munster. >> how do you keep your slim physique? >> this is not a gag. >> now available at starbucks. >> you can't get that at whipped cream. >> this is special at starbucks, whipped cream to go. >> with us right now, white house correspondent savannah guthrie. savannah, i hope you're doing well today. >> good morning. i am. >> rahm emmanuel is going to bolt out of the white house soon, isn't he? >> very soon. in fact, what we've heard here is it could happen as soon as tomorrow. a lot of people expect that to happen, that we'll get an announcement that rahm emmanuel is leaving, moving very quickly,

perhaps even as early as this weekend to chicago to start running for mayor. it's widely expected that the president will announce an interlimb chief of staff, pete rouse, a senior advice tore the president, been with him a long time. it's expected he will be the replacement while the pro verbal nationwide search goes on for a permanent chief of staff. perhaps rouse will be success to stick with that. >> dana milbank wrote in "the washington post" yesterday that regardless of who is chief of staff, valerie jarrett is the most keyed in powerful important person at the white house right now. did that surprise you reading that? it didn't surprise us? >> no, it didn't. there's no question valerie has access to the president. she has the ear of the president. she has the trust of the president. she's right inside. i don't know if you can do a hierarchy of who is most powerful. there are people you put at the top of the list. valerie would be on it, david

axelrod. >> if access is power, then valerie has got it. she's the most powerful person there, right? she's got the most access to the president politically and also -- >> guess what? >> personally when they go on trips, he calls him barack. they're friends. >> what i haulz heard is that valerie and rahm was like that. one of the problems rahm was having is valerie, the two of them don't see eye to eye and that valerie is the one that has the president's ear more than anybody else. >> first of all, i don't know i would say valerie has it more than anyone else. she certainly has it. i don't think anyone else is in a position to say who has it the most on any given day. there have been tensions in the past between rahm emmanuel and valerie jarrett. she certainly sparred with other members of the administration like a robert gibbs, for example. a lot of that is just natural

tension. these are high-profile, high stress jobs, big decisions. people inside this place don't always agree. and sometimes it spills over and can get pretty contentious. >> she's going to be on the show on monday because we're doing something together in washington. >> that's great. what are you doing? >> we're going to be announcing the results of a study on access to capital and small businesses and a panel later in the day. she'll be on the show talking about that. the president will be making an announcement as well. >> before we leave, savannah, i've been waiting the do this because we haven't been on together in a few weeks. what people don't know, we were at a party together, and savannah was a great dancer. savannah, great dancer. just the world needs to know that. beyond her journalistic chops. >> i have to say, mika, it's a little fuzzy. in fact, donny, were you there?

>> was i there? you don't remember the tango? was i there? >> they're wrapping you guys up. >> sorry. our time is up. >> savannah we'll see you on "the daily rundown" right after "morning joe." it's been a year since we went down to john mcdonough high school in new orleans and we saw the massive challenges after hurricane katrina. when we come back, we'll talk about what a difference a year makes. ring ring. progresso. everyday i eat your soups, i save a lot of money. that's great. so, your rich and hearty soups have made me, rich and hearty. that's funny. i'm hearty because of your juicy steak, your potatoes... you're really, rich and happy. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. to challenge ourselves on the most demanding track in the world. with us, in spirit, was every great car

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there's a company in cincinnati called robin's sports surfaces. the lakers are world champions on that floor they built there. north carolina's national championships in college basketball on the court they built there. i'm going to challenge this company in cincinnati to rebuild this floor so that you can be state champions when you're a senior. >> i'm in bed in new orleans and my cfo called me and said you need to go over to mcdonough. you need to do something to that floor. they just called out to put a floor in. i said okay. i got over here and called

robbins and between robbins sports service company and the flooring company we're going to get a noor in here. >> an incredible moment on "morning joe" when robbins sports services pledged to fix the floor at john mcdonough high school in new orleans. >> that guy is scary. poor kid next to him, scared to death. >> we were at mcdonough in the gym. the floor has waves in it particularly. digger phelps the former notre dame coach. he said somebody get me the name of the most prominent flooring company in the country, i'm going to put them on the spot. he goes on the air and issues a challenge to robbins. just as we're packing um the show, that man you saw there, joe covington comes into the jichl and says i'm here to put in a new floor. he got the message and came to the gym. look at this time lapsed photography. joining us now, the ceo of robbins sports surfaces, jay stare.

>> so you're the man. >> also with him, the director of starbucks community investments and executive director of the starbucks foundation, rodney hines. starbucks is also following up with a pledge of its own and a student from john mcdonough high school, the man with the ball cornelius. good to see you. he run it is show for the team down there. >> first things first, how does the squad look this year? >> i don't know. i ain't seen the squad yet. everybody ask asked me am i balling this year? i said yeah, i'm balling. >> you'll be balling a little better on the floor. jay, talk to us about the transformation of that gym and what you put into it. >> well, the original floor has digger indicated was not in the best of shape. with our commitment, we nut a world class, the premium basketball floor called the mvp system. joe covington, junior and his installation crew did an outstanding job. you can see very plainly what a

great job they did. >> that's a beautiful floor. it's basically nba quality. we should point out robbins and covington stepping up. the market value of that floor is $130,000. they went in and laid it. >> it's amazing. they did it in realtime. they were watching and said get over there and fix the floor up. it was wonderful. >> they stepped up to the plate. >> that's stepping up. we thought digger phelps is crazy, well, he is crazy. >> he gets things done. >> crazy can be good. you made a pledge at starbucks, too. tell me about what some of the money you pledged and what it's achieved at mcdonough. >> when katrina hit, starbucks like other individuals and corporations felt compelled to act. back in 2005 we made a $5 million five-year commitment to the relief efforts to new orleans and this region. then back in november when we were here with you, volunteering

with the students from the school and with citi here, we saw the great needs at the school and we pledged to help bring back a critical community space for the school. that's the auditorium. we committed to replacing roof, ceiling and sound system. >> that is great work. and another challenge issued on the air, digger said, for god sake's it's raining in the auditorium. they're going to assemblies with umbrellas. starbucks stepped up and got us done. cornelius, tell us what the floor looks like? how is it going to help your game this year? >> it's going to help my game a lot. i was seeing the improvement yesterday as i was playing basketball in the gym. the floor is nice, though. i like it. >> it's level. it's shiny. beautiful. great job by all you guys. cornelius, good luck. jay stare with robbins. rodney hines of starbucks, great work all around making john

mcdonough high school in new orleans a much better place. thank you all. >> good luck everyone. take care. >> thank you. >> we were honored to be asked. >> thank you so much for making this possible. isn't that just great? we went there and it was still -- this place was still just torn up from katrina. and a little better now. >> you have community leaders stepping up. >> private sector can do so much. >> a lot more to do. our than, to starbucks for stepping up. and we hope for much more to come with that. >> and robbins stepping up in realtime. >> by the way, starbucks, the cup of whipped cream. at a store near you. >> it was a mistake. i thought it was greek yogurt. we'll be back with "time" magazine managing editor richard stengel. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week,

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welcome back to "morning joe." 41 past the hour. a deluge in washington, d.c. more rain coming. the east coast is going to get hit. >> three to six inches maybe. >> yeah. >> going to be ugly. >> i hear elvis costello -- get this, donny, you'll be excited about this. >> other than mccartney, elvis is the man, elvis is king. he's goings to be here, believe it or not, the day after the election. he has a new album coming out.

what day is up in the air. chris is going to kill me. elvis will be here. >> is there anybody that doesn't come here? heads of states, fortune 50 ceos, leaders of the free world, musicians. who does not come to "morning joe"? >> seriously, elvis is kingman. >> snooki. >> snooki doesn't come. we tried. they passed on us. >> we will not have snooki here. >> willie may have. we won't. >> she passed. >> i tell you who i would like to meet, i was watching ken burns' documentary last night. hank aaron. born in atlanta, followed the braves forever and hank aaron when he was chasing babe ruth, terrible time. i wrote him a note because i used to always write -- you know, little joey, writing notes to baseball players. i was 19. no. i was 7, 8.

i wrote him a note while making his chase. in the middle of that chase i get back -- most of the guys would stamp their name. hank aaron, to joey, all the best. >> nice. >> hank aaron. that was in the spring of '74. >> right in the middle of it. >> when he was chasing babe ruth. that guy is all class. >> speaking with all class, here to unveil the new cover of "time" magazine, managing editor richard stengel. and the cover this week is -- >> the cover is a result of a six-month investigation by our pulitzer prize winning correspondent bart gelman of the extreme military armed militia movements growing around the country since the inauguration of president obama. it's a very serious story, a very serious investigation. it's very explosive. the timing of it is in some ways

awkward. but the fbi, atf, all the federal agencies are very concerned about these organizations and lone wolfs who might actually cause great damage. >> let me ask you about this. we were talking about it off the air, that republicans get upset with these type of stories because every time republicans seem to be making political gainless, thegai gains, these are the type of stories that come out. i will say it may be the reality. but it does feed into a certain world view that the far left has of the conservative movement. you said this actually -- you started the investigation actually before the tea party movement. >> when we first hired bart this was the story he wanted to do. there were four alleged assassination attempts against obama before he was even inaugurated. bart was hearing this was a big concern of people. news is never convenient, joe.

>> that was a big concern under george w. bush. what is different now? >> what's different now is you have an african-american president with a foreign-sounding name. it has basically taken some so many of these groups that had gone into decline in the 1990s and they've had a resurgence now. they've been newly motivated. again, it comes -- there's a whole range. there are plenty of militia groups that are patriotic guys who go out on the weekends and train, all the way to groups that, again, regard the government not as the problem but as the enemy. they see the federal agencies as the people they will take up arms against. i will argue, frankly, joe, it has nothing to do with the republican party or tea party movement. this is about something else beyond the pale. it's even hard to describe what the kind of political affiliation. >> how much is race in underpinning a driver behind

these militias? >> it's interesting. it's hard to know. it's a fantastic piece. there are groups and leaders in the article who say, you know what? i hate being compared to these white supremacist organizations. i reject the kkk. i reject them. some of them are. there are two very explosive details, the shooter at the holocaust museum who shot that guard, he had david axelrod's address and name and a note saying that axelrod was poisoning america. james cummings, this fellow arrested after president obama was inaugurated turns out, in fact, had come the closest of anybody to developing a dirty bomb. he had isotopes, uranium. this has not come out before. these are both very, very scary and explosive details. i would argue, joe, there is no good time to publish something like this. >> were you concerned that you were publishing it a month, month and a half before a midterm election? >> yes. i certainly thought about it.

it was ready. the story was breaking. it's not the week before. it was impossible to hold. it's -- in some ways it's a particularly sensitive time to do it. again, information like this and news like this is sufficiently important that i think it overrides that. >> donny, on the race front, i've always made parallels to '94 for a damn good reason. in '93, '94 when i was campaigning there were militia groups out there and they would stand up and say things at town hall meetings. it would scare the hell out of you and you'd slowly walk out of the room walking back yards. you know what? guess what happened? there were stories about militia groups in 1994. we complained about it. in april of 1995 we had oklahoma city. so for people to say this isn't a concern -- but it wasn't about race. >> i'm not saying every militia -- >> i heard more hateful things said about bill clinton in '93

and '94 than i've heard about barack obama. >> we sit here in new york city -- >> i was there. i was campaigning day in and day out. >> i covered it. >> i'm telling you i heard more hateful things said about bill clinton and hillary clinton in '93 and '94 than barack obama. i'm not saying it's not out there. i'm saying this is an antigovernment extremism that -- >> i think antigovernment is part of it. i have no research to back this up. common sense tells you -- it's interesting that mr. stengel in setting out the piece quickly pointed out an african-american president that into wonder where white supremacist and antigovernment people, where that axis is. >> it's a thought. >> there's an overlap, but not 100% overlap. what i would say to you, joe, left and right, republicans and democrats, we believe there are solutions to problems through the electoral process, through the democratic process. these are people who are outside of that belief system, who do

not think that solutions come through the electoral process or any traditional means. that's the problem and the difference. >> they're frightening. i just wonder if this is what we're going to be facing every time a progressive president is elected. it happened with clinton in '92. it's happened with obama in '08. it is frightening, really frightening. you also have and we don't have time to get through all of them. we've shown some of them today. >> the polls. >> some fascinating polls in this week's "time" magazine. >> i heard you talking about it earlier. the florida race. that was a surprising race. and alaska. >> florida, alaska, california where democrats are making gains. other states where they're falling behind. illinois where -- that's deadlocked. >> apparently spending $200 million as meg whitman will do will not be enough which is amazing. >> there have been a lot of people who spent a lot of money in campaigns in california and come up short.

>> it's actually a platform to run against. jerry brown, every ad i run, a ticker on the left side a ticke on how much money meg whitman is spending. that's a strategy right there. >> rick, thanks very much. coming up, lawrence o'donnell will be here. >> oh, dear lord. >> i can't wait to see him. i hope he doesn't mind if i kiss him. >> who else will be here? >> author and photographer tim heatherton shares the images he captured in one of afghanistan's most hostile areas. no. oh. but i did pick up your dry cleaning and had your shoes shined. well, i made you a reservation at the sushi place around the corner. well, in that case, i better get back to these invoices... which i'll do right after making your favorite pancakes. you know what? i'm going to tidy up your side of the office. i can't hear you because i'm also making you a smoothie. [ male announcer ] marriott hotels & resorts knows it's better for xerox to automate their global invoice process so they can focus on serving their customers. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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we've been talking about this story all morning. voyeurism for the internet age with tragic consequences. two rectors university freshman have been charged with secretly taking webcam video of a sexual encounter by a fellow student and streaming that video on the internet. three days later, the student committed suicide. nbc's mike taibbi has the story. >> when tyler clemente celebrated his high school graduation this past june, he'd already won a claim as a violinist and a scholarship. but on sunday, september 19th, his new college roommate announced via twitter, according to the ap, that roommate asked for the room till midnight. i went into molly's room and turned on my web cam. i saw him making out with a

dude. yay. prosecutors say ravi also broadcast live video of clemente's sexual encounter over the internet, where an untold number of viewers could watch. then ravi allegedly tried to do it again tweeting, yes, it's happening again. and although this time it did not work, the next day, a police source told nbc news, two witnesses saw clemente jump off the towering george washington bridge to his death. ravi and the molli he referred to, high school and college classmate, molly way, have been criminally charged with violating new jersey's privacy laws, and if convicted, could face three to five years in prison. not if you have, says privacy law expert, teri aftab. >> i think if the prosecutors limit this to just the privacy violations in state law, they're not doing their job. >> reporter: clemente's suicide may be the latest tragic teen death linked to the internet. last year, 13-year-old hope

witsell and 18-year-old jessie logan both took their lives in separate incidents after nude photos they'd sexted to close friends were posted to the internet. rutgers, like so many schools, continues to struggle with issues of privacy in the internet age. >> the basic elements that you have is the human nature that can exploit any technology to do any number of bad things to other individuals. >> reporter: clemente's family issued a statement, calling him a fine young man and a distinguish mud simusician. the family is heart broken beyond words and cooperating fully with the ongoing investigation. friends mourn the loss of a young and hopeful talent. >> outside of being an extremely talented musician, tyler was an amazing person who made you feel great and you couldn't help but smile when tyler smiled at you. >> nbc's mike taibbi reporting for us on that story.

>> just so heartbreaking. those parents, to think about -- just, with kids. for 18 years, just, you know, giving your all and, wow. there are no words for it. >> prayers go out to the family. >> absolutely. lawrence o'donnell next on "morning joe." maybe you want to provide meals for the needy. or maybe you want to help when the unexpected happens. whatever you want to do, members project from american express can help you take the first step. vote, volunteer, or donate for the causes you believe in at membersproject.com. take charge of making a difference.

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get it. you're his stalking horse. you're his stalking horse. you're his bird dog. >> where's the evidence? >> if you go to my daughter's house, i'll take you out, buddy. >> how you going to do that? >> watch. >> he sent his bird dogs out to make accusations against me, and that's okay? he sent his bird dogs. i don't send bird dogs to do my dirty work. >> this is new york's next governor, perhaps. >> congratulations. >> welcome back to "morning joe". >> can you tell a reporter, "i'm going to take you out"? is that something you can do? >> i don't know that that's a smart thing to do. i don't know how that helps with swing voters. but willie, do you want to show this? >> there are other pictures of him. >> looks like grandpa munster. >> a little dark around the eyes. >> a very convoluted story, but the bottom line is he's insinuating his opponent had had

extramarital affairs, because i guess the press or these people -- >> who's insinuating who? what? >> he said paramours, i thought that was kind of whores. >> anyway. it's getting ugly in new york. >> lawrence o'donnell here, very exciting. he's got the last word. what he did with levi johnston, it was genius. >> it was the lead story on "the view" yesterday. barbara showed up -- >> hot topic. >> ready to go. she said she'd stayed up to watch the show, watch the levi thing. >> and it ended up, it was all -- it was a mirage. >> it was plagiarism. >> you plagiarized katie couric. >> plagiarize, it's a strong word. >> it is a strong word. >> i think the more accurate word is i stole katie's questions. >> here we go. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of

several theories? >> oh, i think it should be taught as an accepted principle. >> do you believe evolution should be taught as an accepted scientific principle or one of several theories? >> whoo, you're kind of getting over my head on these things here. yeah, i don't really know how to answer that question. >> the united states is deeply unpopular in pakistan -- do you think the pakistani government is protecting al qaeda within its borders? >> i don't believe that new presidents zardari has that mission at all. >> like i said, i don't watch that tv. >> i tell you, i like his answer better! i like his answer better than hers! >> i want to hug him. >> he was absolutely happy and leaving. he said, happy to come back. i want him back. here was the hardest part for me. i was trying to do katie's serious face. you look at katie, katie's never been more serious when she was asking those questions of sarah

palin. so to complete the -- and willie as a performance artist will respect this. to complete the concept, i needed to hold on to that katie serious face, which was not easy with this particular interview subject. >> why was that? >> because it was wicked funny, okay? and look, but this is -- here's exactly what happened, okay. exactly what happened. izzie povich, the executive producer of my show and my boss, who knows what america wants, okay. she knows what america wants. that video went straight to "the view." it was their lead story yesterday. it was all over the internet. i don't know what america wants. >> but you listen to izzie. >> izzie tells me what to do. izzie says, we've got levi johnston, and i'm sitting there in the interview going, i got nothing. what am i going to ask him? i got nothing. so then i closed the door and i paced and then -- and then, you know, come back to my basic

instinct, steal. i go to the internet, give my katie couric's questions. i get them word for word. >> steal. >> steal. that's my first impulse. >> paul mccartney, here of mind say, good artists borrow -- >> borrow --? no, word for word. >> can i finish? good artists borrow, great artists steal. you did it. >> so last night i had bob woodward, just asked him katie couric's sarah palin questions. >> you're going to do it every night. >> what newspapers do you read? i've got mike bloomberg tonight. i'm checking what's the latest katie couric interview. >> check out letterman. >> we have another guest here. >> we do. also with us now, tim hetherington, the photographer of the gripping pictures in "infidel," a companion book to "restrepo," a film he co-directed and followed one platoon for a year in the krango valley in aversion. and he joins us on the set.

>> we, of course, have talked to sebastian. he was here to talk about war and "restrepo." what was it like for you there? it had to be so surreal. and i think especially when you're in the humvee, there's the explosion, you get out. now, sebastian has his little -- >> sebastian who? >> sebastian younger. >> are you kidding me? >> has his little pen and his piece of paper, and he ducks it, right, he hides. you're still carrying around your camera, trying to capture -- >> i've got the off switch in my head. sebastian actually also filmed with with us. we both filmed and directed and produced it. he was an amazing companion out there. >> how do you keep filming when you're getting shot at by 20 taliban members? >> i don't know. i've got the off switch on, and i kind of go for it. you're there for a purpose. >> how long were you there? >> we were there on and off for

ten months. >> these are his photos we're looking at. >> you're obviously great war reporters. you're just crazy. run -- no, seriously. you run through bullets and scenes that nobody else would do. was there ever a moment when you're over there where you said, i'm going to get shot in the back of the head? or do you just completely block that out? >> you know, we cover the stories not for adrenaline, we cover it because i think these are really important things to go and do. it's important to go to these places and bring back what we don't often see back here in the states. and you know, so that's the first thing. but, ofblg, there are moments when you kind of think, what in the hell am i doing here. >> so joe and i, we would think that before going. that's the difference. we would this, what would we be doing there, and then we wouldn't go. >> sebastian said something in

his book, talked about fear in the battle field, said, you can be in the safest situation, but if you're not trained well, then you're overcome by fear. and he said a lot of the people in the most dangerous situations have great training and they have very little fear. they charge -- but you don't have the training. so it's tougher for you. >> well, you know, i'm filming and/or i'm taking photographs, and in some ways focusing on the job allows you to get on with the job at hand. but the guys are really well trained. and in the krango, i remember when we arrived in 2007, about a fifth of the whole fight took place in that valley. so they had had a lot of fighting, a lot of experience and incredible things had happened there. some say the korengal valley the most dangerous place on the face of the earth. what is about that valley, we've since pulled out of there, that makes it such an awful death trap? >> you know, the korengal was a small six-mile-long valley on the side of towards the border

of pakistan. and it wasn't just the scene of local taliban, as it is down in the helmand, fighting against forces, but the hezbollah islami were there. so when we think of the war on terror and what was happening, that's really the location where it was going on. and the fighters are very good. just recently president obama announced that the next living medal of honor recipient is a guy called sal giunta. sal was up in the first platoon, watching, making sure we were safe. and as his platoon pulled out, that's when they were ambushed, and he stopped his friend from being dragged off by the insurgents. >> lawrence o'donnell with "the

last word" is here. he's got a question for you lifted from a katie couric interview. >> i'm just curious, in shaping your world view, what newspapers and magazines do you read -- >> oh -- >> that's katie's question number one. it's all i got. >> i can bring questions that -- we've actually been talking this week about a 20-year-old guy headed back to afghanistan, second tour of duty, crying his eyes out in the airport before he was going, talking to his sister and how it changes everything when he leaves. what's it like for these guys going back in a second, a third time? do you get to see that and talk to them and sort of the psychological process of going back in and how heart wrenching it is for them? >> well, you know, we often forget, many of these guys are 18 to 23, they bear a huge burden of responsibility out there. what we did is kind of this the intimacy. and you know, of course, before they go out there, there must be

a terrible expectation their going back into the danger zone. but once they get back out there, they really focus on the job at hand. there's a scene in the film "restrepo" where john finds his friend, larry rugel, shot dead. breaks down, but within minutes he was back up, ready, getting on with with the job at hand. and we felt that the soldier's experience really needs to be seen, digested, and understood by the american public, and honored, as a starting point for this conversation about war. >> can you explain how a lot of these young men will cry before they go over, talking to their families, saying good-bye. they get over there with, and they're battle-ready, as you say. and then as the war describes, when they come back, they feel out of place. they want to be back with their band of brothers. and sebastian younger talked of one -- it was so strange seeing him in his book sit in a bar talking about how they -- and

you know, in new jersey, talked about how they wanted to be back -- >> can't wait to be home. >> it's a very hard thing for people at home to understand about soldiers and how they actually miss it. it's a strange thing for us to grapple with. i think what they miss is the significance and meaning in their lives. you know, if you're between 18 and 22, you go out there, you know your place in the platoon. you know what we've got to do. and you come back to the states, and when i was 18, i was kind of bottom rung of society, i didn't know quite my identity. so no wonder you kind of miss that significance and that meaning. but as i said, it's like, we need to really understand what they're doing out there more fully. and i think while there are some good editorial pieces, kind of the scope and understanding, you can't get in those news formats. that's why we did the film and the books. >> and the book, "war," which everyone should read, gives you a sense of the bond that is

created out on the field in the front lines, because there's an intimacy there that you can't get at home. in which the soldiers learn the meaning of the word "trust," and "i have your back." >> and what are we going to get from "infidel." it's a companion piece to "war" and "restrepo." talk about "infidel." >> i think one of the most extraordinary things about the project and one of the most profound things was this intimacy we got with the soldiers. and you really see that in the book. and here the title of the book "infidel," is taken from the tattoos they gave each other. they have it across their chest, and i'm like, what are you doing with infidel across your chest? they're like, we listen to the radio, that's what the enemies call us, so why not. so it really shows you that no matter how we want to kind of pretend that the war machine is about apaches or missiles or tanks, really, the heart of the war machine is take a group of

young men, train them together, put them on a side of a mountain and they will kill and be killed for each other. and we here really need to understand that. >> when you read the stories that are coming out now about this group of young soldiers that's accused of simply, randomly murdering afghans, innocent afghans, very deliberately, we read those stories with no comprehension of how that could happen. does your experience there inform your reading of those stories in a different way? >> you know, war is a dirty business. people die and it's very hard for society to understand, you know, the kind of what goes on. in the same way, it's like -- >> but this isn't the dirty business part. this is the mentally ill, derang deranged, insane part, that has no relation to what any of those other soldiers are doing. >> absolutely. what i was going to say, i was going to say the same thing, that the american suicide rate for soldiers is extremely high

as well. you have soldiers who are killing their loved ones and the military is very concerned about this. the amount of stress that the soldiers are under over there is extremely high. you know, and we don't quite understand the implications of what we are asking these young men to do and what is happening. i mean, the moral universe of an 18 to 20-year-old is turned upside down in many ways. the things that we experience over here as you get older, you start to, you know, you get older, friends around you start to die, you comprehend those things, you digest them. but here you have 18 to 22-year-olds trying to do that at an age in which they're perhaps not prepared to do that. >> that is an incredible quaund ry. >> and in afghanistan, what you guys describe so well is the fact that every minute these 18, 19, 20-year-olds are walking around, they're waiting basically to be shot in the back of the head by a sniper. that that is their life. it's not like wars where you go

to the back of -- everywhere, these kids are getting shot when they go out walking around the compound. it's an added stress. >> and it's very interesting, as you see in the movie, you actually never see the enemy, you never see the insurgents, but every time you leave the wire, there's a chance you could get killed. and many of the people we were with did get killed. the korengal had a casualty rate of 20%. and one patrol, chosen company where everyone took a bullet. everyone was either killed or wounded, 20 guys. so that part of the war, that small base strategy part of the war in kunar was a very particular kind of dynamic and obviously now things have moved on. >> tim hetherington, thank you very much. the book is "infidel" and we appreciate it. thank you so much for coming on the set today. there it is. look at the cover. banned for life. politico explains why stephen colbert may have delivered his

last joke on capitol hill. and later, joe's conversation with former florida governor, jeb bush. but first, we do have severe weather hammering the northeast. let's go to bill karins for the latest on that. bill? >> thanks, mika. just starting to get the airport delays in now. the airports are opening up. right now we're at two-hour delays in philadelphia. and just updated the laguardia airport in new york city, 2 1/2 hour delays. soon we'll probably get the influence from jfk and d.c., they'll probably be similar. new york city's not too bad, but heavy thunderstorms moved through earlier. now we're going to get a little bit of a break with just showers. the worst of it is from philadelphia out through pennsylvania and into areas of maryland. that's where we're going to continue to see the heaviest rain, already almost 2 inches in d.c. and it's just beginning to rain. it's going to rain all day long. d.c. could easily end up with 5 to 6 inches of rain out of this. we have a tornado watch extending until 1:00 this afternoon. we've already had reports of a couple weak twisters in areas of north carolina, only minor

damage done. and finally, we've also got flash flood warnings. the areas in maroon is where we're having street flooding, small streams are flooding. an almost impossible commute this morning in some of the rural towns outside of downtown d.c. so give yourself a lot of extra time. the forecast, it's going to rain on and off hard all day today and tonight. tomorrow morning, it will slowly clear out. so your commute tonight will be just as bad as what you're experiencing this morning. we'll give you details throughout the day and updates on any severe weather threat. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks.

i've only been here two years, guys. you know, if you look at the checklist, we've already covered about 70%, so i figured i need to have something to do for the next couple of years. >> 70%?! that's a -- let's check the list. okay. yeah, he made a checklist. he worked out, got a dog, met stevy wonder, got a nobel peace prize, got an ipad -- all right. okay. so he's right, he only has three more on the list. >> when president obama and nancy pelosi pressured chet edwards, chet stood up to them. >> i like jason a lltmeyer.

>> bobby voted against a $1 trillion failed budget. >> and when washington liberals wanted to take away our guns, chet said no. >> holy -- those are the ads that democrats are running?! what ads are the republicans running? >> vote for me and i'll punch president obama in the balls. >> jimmy donn for congress. >> in the balls! >> jimmy donn. >> i would love to see a focus group of republican voters, pick a state, and run a few ads. runs the balls ad as a legitimate ad and see what -- see who they would line up for. >> it's donny's playground. >> it's true. >> it is funny. those democrats running the anti-democratic ads. >> we've seen it before, joe. 1994. every house race -- did you do this in your race? it started off, the commercials started off with a picture of

your incumbent democratic congressman. and in the 30 seconds, it morphed into the face of bill clinton. and everybody voted against bill clinton. >> i didn't do the morph, but i had like -- >> the split. >> vince webb voted for -- boom, just like clinton. >> so clinton was in your ad? >> clinton here, vinnie webb here, and they would move closer together, and at the end, they'll crash together. just like clinton. i knew i had won, i was exhausted, i was in a barber's chair the night before the election, my eyes were closed, and the barber was like, ha-ha, just like clinton. it's connected. >> but i think obama has a better relationship with voters at this stage than clinton -- >> that's what people don't remember. they like the guy. >> they're not using obama in that same personal way. i don't think they can profit on it. >> they can't. >> they're using pelosi.

pelosi is the new clinton. >> i ran against a 16-year incumbent at the beginning of the campaign. i never mentioned his name. he dropped out. then there were 11 people in the race running against me. i was supposed to lose. i never mentioned their names. they were all fighting each other. i was like, clinton, clinton, clinton. you remember this, most people don't, bill clinton was far more unpopular in 1994 than barack obama was today -- >> as a human being. >> and the reason why is very simple. because barack obama, we really did believe -- i mean, bill clinton, we were like, okay, he was at oxford, he was protesting against vietnam and smoking pot and dodging the draft. it was sort of like this jane fonda image around him. where, barack obama, great guy, great father, great -- he's got those middle class values, most americans think. >> i think you're right. >> and there's another dynamic to it. >> i'm not saying bill clinton doesn't, i'm just saying that it was -- >> you were running against a

president who had been elected with 43% of the vote and came in third in some states. obama was a good, clean, solid win. so the distance down for clinton actually wasn't as far. >> and it was so easy, because the thing is, the republican establishment didn't support me, but i had all the pro voters and enou enough republicans. >> this is an important question. >> voters need to understand this. when you're running for office and people are showing you ads, your experience with candidates, how much at the end of the day really sayi yay or nay? >> i didn't have any pollsters or anything -- i did everything. i did all my ads, i did -- >> did them yourself? >> the tv stuff, beginning to end. >> there aren't a lot of people who did that. i didn't know moynihan did it. >> yeah, it was great. the first day with him, i went

into this big conference room in new york where these guys had been paid millions of dollars to write tv scripts, and they read the scripts and he just says, to everything isn't the scripts, he just kept saying, uh, that's a lie, that's a lie. and he just -- how long does it take to write these things, ten minutes? he left the room, came back in eight minutes with a new script. way better than anything they had. >> let's go to politico. >> jim vandehei. good morning. >> good morning, guys. >> let's talk stephen colbert. very entertaining on the hill last week, but not entertaining to some of the congresspeople who were up there who were somehow shocked, stunned, deeply saddened that a comedian would come on the hill and tell jokes. >> obviously democrats regret having him up will and it's expedited this trend of people being much more reluctant to ever go on his show. the hearings have nailed it home for everybody on the democratic

and republican side. they think it's too dangerous, he's too unpredictable and they think what happened on capitol hill last week was an embarrassment for congress and an embarrassment for democrats. >> did they really not know what they were getting into with stephen colbert? did they not know young staffers who had seen his show? >> you sure as heck think they should have known what was going to happen. you can see from steny hoyer over the weekend, how agitated he was, having to deal with this issue, and having a comedian at the hearings. but the buck stops at whoever made it on that committee. >> the greatest line in political playbook this morning about colbert, it's a former staffer, congressional staffer saying, my experience with that show is like herpes. it never goes away and it itches and sometimes flares up. that's a former aide to representative lynn westmoreland. it's a guy. so women of washington, former aides to representative lynn

westmoreland -- >> stay away. >> be very careful. >> jim, thanks so much! we'll be checking you guys out at politico. next, new jobless numbers due out any moment now. erin burnett will bring them to us in a minute. it's work through the grime and the muck, month. tow and pull without getting stuck month. sweat every day to make an honest buck...month. and if you're gonna try and do this in anything other than a chevy... well, good luck...month. great deals on the complete family of chevy trucks all backed for a hundred thousand miles. it's truck month. now, during truck month, get 0% apr financing on all trucks and full-size suvs like this 2011 silverado. see your local chevrolet dealer. save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really

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live shot. jersey city, new jersey. >> less work.

that's what you do. >> this first week has been too much work. >> it's interesting. i'm writing this book about how men work less. and women work more. >> don't do that! no! >> for a ten-minute interview, i had to read a whole book. >> just read the piece of paper and pretend to read the book. >> but i read all of woodward's book, so i just read it sooner. >> you got izzie there? >> yeah. she's the greatest. >> just let them read the books, ask the questions. >> and he's got a great -- i'm going to talk to phil griffith. he's got a promo idea for your show. >> i've been forbidden. >> we'll enact it right here. you don't want to do it? >> no. >> it's so smart. i know you did the show for a reason. tell us your reason. >> you know those earnest promos. >> yeah. >> we're going to make america! >> go right off-camera, in this show, there'll be no spin, blah

blah blah. and the one i proposed that was rejected was, i do it for the money. >> that's a promo! >> i just thought -- >> that's a three-second promo. you can sell the other 27 seconds to, you know, toyota or something. >> i'm batwatching that show. >> i'm the marketing guy. that's a promo. >> speaking of great business, let's go to erin burnett. new weekly jobless numbers are out. erin, you're at the stock exchange, what's it look lake? >> first of all, floods are unbelievable, so i hope you have an arc. in terms of the jobless claims, about in line with expectations. dropped a little bit. still 453,000. we also got the final read of how quickly the economy grew in the second quarter. 1.7%. not a great number. nothing to be excited about, but a little bit better than people thought and it's still a positive. people tell me that you need to have about 2.9% growth in gdp to

have mass, you know, 200,000 jobs a month created. so we're not quite there. but in terms of other good news this morning, business activity in the new york region was up for the first time in four months. all that, guys, leads into this. september has been a stellar month for stocks. wonder if it's going to matter for these midterms, because half of americans own stocks. that means your 401(k) and your pension all went up. maybe that will contribute to a little bit more positivity out there. but you're looking at the best september for the dow since 1939. and in fact, it could be up 8% or more. there's only been four years since 1986 that it's been that strong. and across the board, all ten groups on the market are higher, significantly so. there is, although, a lot of inflation on consumer goods. that's a bit of an issue. but i have one way before i go that we could improve the economy a little bit more. buy some more color, improve his wardrobe a little bit, maybe a slightly larger-sized t-shirt or a sweater. >> i'll ask you again, donald

trump -- >> why do you think i was talking about you, donny? >> what year are you in item. >> 1990. >> tom brady. >> i'm sorry. [ wind howling ] [ technician ] are you busy? management just sent over these new technical manuals. they need you to translate them into portuguese. by tomorrow. [ male announcer ] ducati knows it's better for xerox to manage their global publications. so they can focus on building amazing bikes. with xerox, you're ready for real business.

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when given an opportunity to stand up and fight to try to get this thing passed, even the republican who sponsored the bill, peter king, chose politics over trying to get it done. he didn't once turn to his colleagues and say, please, guys, put politics aside and get this thing done. >> anthony weiner and the democratic leadership sabotaged this bill. at the last minute, the democrats said it required 290, a two-thirds. they actually upped it. this was doomed to fail. >> that was congressman anthony weiner and then peter king with their takes on why legislation to provide health care to 9/11

rescue workers stalled over the summer. yesterday the house finally passed the bill. and with us from washington to explain how it all went down, nbc news capitol hill correspondent luke russert. >> so, luke, what happened, buddy? we know that nancy pelosi didn't want to bring it to a straight up or down because the blue dogs were worried and the hispanic caucus was worried. it happened, why? how? >> it happened and it's a quite interesting backstory. it was something that both parties were working on over the august recess. specifically king and weiner and the new york delegation. and late last week we got word from pelosi and hoyer that they were going to bring this up for a straight up and down vote. but it took a lot of lobbying sources on the side of peter king to try to reassure nervous democrats that the bill would not have to do with illegal immigration. some would want to offer a poisoned pill amendment that would bar the funds from this larger $7.8 billion fund to go

to undocumented workers who are amongst the first responders. they said that was unjust. if that amendment had been brought up, the democratic leadership would have killed the the bill. sources told me even as late as yesterday, that was a distinct possibility. the republican motion to recommit actually turned out something to do with health care. essentially saying, you should pay for this bill from funds within the health care bill and also made some interesting quips -- >> so was it peter king that got the republican party to do him a favor and not put up the motion to recommit that -- >> peter king was able to successfully lobby john boehner and the republican leadership from putting anything forward that could be extremely controversial. something to have to do with immigration. there were folks on the right side of the party, that definitely wanted to put in that poison pill and wanted to bring down the bill. a lot of folks from the southern conservative republican districts, much like the one you represented viewed this as a new york centric bill. almost viewed this as an

entitlement program for a specific area of the country, a specific city. while 9/11 responders are in almost every district in the united states, a lot of people still view it as putting new york first. king was able to assure some gop support. they got around 17 or 20 votes. but the fact that nervous democrats didn't take this thing down as a testament they were able to trust king going into the vote. but they got harry toward the end. if that motion to recommit had to go with immigration, it would have gone down. >> luke, we got to go. but really quickly, will this pass in the senate now? >> that's a really good question. the senate's a much tougher sell. you have to get 60 to move forward on anything now. it could happen over the lame-duck. schumer and gillibrand want it, but we'll see. it's a tough vote. >> luke russert, great reporting. jeb bush next on "morning joe."

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more. i recently sat down with the former governor of florida, jeb bush. in our wide-ranging interview, we talked about charlie crist, the future of the republican party, and his own presidential aspirations. >> i can't tell you how many republicans i hear, wherever i go across the country, talking about how they want you to run, they need you to run. they believe not only that the republican party's future depends on it, but america's future depends on it. how do you say no to that? >> well, i have enough humility to know that that's not the case. that already going to be good candidates. look, i'm troubled about the future of our country. i think we're stuck when we need to be explosively moving forward to transform how to do things. and i'm going to be involved, but i'm not going to be involved as a candidate in 2012. >> how frustrating is that for you on the sidelines to see america losing its competitive edge? we're still number one, but china's catching up. india's catching up. the world's catching up, and

we're debating about islamic centers near ground zero. we're distracted, both sides screaming and yelling at each other. how frustrating is that to you? >> well, it's frustrating because the political class is really dysfunctional. so what troubles me the most of anything is that people are so anxious about what they see, so disturbed by it, so fearful of it, concerned about it. and then they see the people that they traditionally ask to solve it, and they, you know, they seem to be in a massive food fight. so that disconnect, i get to see now from the sidelines more, because i'm not, you know, immersed -- i've never really been immersed in the washington world anyway. and it's troubling. i'm not saying that i'm going to be a hermit. i'm going to go in some cave and academ check in with you later. i'm going to be involved, but

not as a candidate. >> are you distressed by this back and forth? let's say, what you hear about barack obama, that 40% of american s don't believe he was born in america? >> that troubles me, for sure. but i think it's fair game to say when you have massive increases in spending, and underneath the surface, a total rewrite of significant elements of the regulatory system on top of our economy, and underneath that, all sorts of social initiatives that don't even get to the light of day, because these other things are so huge, it's okay to fight back. it's okay to -- >> oh, sure, to attack the policies -- >> there's enough there. there's enough low-hanging fruit there to get diverted on to all these other topics is not just bad for the ability, ultimately, to find common ground, but it's bad politics. >> florida politics, obviously, charlie crist fighting for his life against marco rubio, this -- i would say young kid,

because now anyone younger than 47 is a young kid. but marco rubio out of nowhere looks like he could beat charlie kri crist, who just a few years ago was pretty popular. >> he's still relatively popular. popularity a fleeting thing. it's kind of irrelevant in my mind in politics. ma marco has is something that the republican party needs to have, which is a hopeful, optimistic message based on our principles. not a message of despair or pessimism or against the president as kind of its organizing principle, but a message based on american exceptionalism, that we are a special place. and our exceptionalism is based not on our government, but based on the ability to reward achievement. that initiative matters. that taking care of your family matters. and so it's very reaganesque, if you hear him speak, and it's something that i think will help

us, for our party to be successful and to renew itself, which is not a foregone conclusion, even with good results in 2010, we're going to need leaders that lift the cloud up and offer an alternative that is more hopeful and optimistic. so i'm a huge marco fan and i have been from the beginning, to disrespect to kendrick meek or charlie crist. and he's going to win because of his message. >> four decades ago, america was number one in education. now we're 18 out of 24 in industrialized nations. what's caused the backsliding? >> partially, i think there's a real focus on feeling good about ourselves and moms and dads think their goods go to a good school, but the system may not be good and there's a sense of complacency. meanwhile, education in a cultural value in the emerging world, it's the highest priority of every parent that wants their children to have a better life. here we don't have that same

kind of passion and commitment for making education important. and so we're kind of stuck in the 1970s. the reforms that have existed are on the margins. they're not significant. and we've seen the results. >> what are the implications, if we continue to slide? >> well, president obama gave a speech about a month ago at the university of texas, my alma mater, that said, for the first time ever, the united states is, i think 13th in the world in terms of college graduates in the young age cohort. that their parents, and i think, grandparents, had a higher percentage of that age cohort at that time going to get a college degree than today. can you imagine that? so as the time to get a college degree, the importance of it increases, the gap between learning grows each year. it's been that way for 20 years. we're having worse outcomes. >> you're talking about barack obama, does he have the nerve to stand up to the unions? >> he -- look, he's -- we'll see. i mean, it's a work inni inprog.

he passed -- advocated this bailout, which was purely to placate the teachers' unions about two months ago. but at the same time, both he and secretary duncan have been pretty stalwart supporters of charter schools. they haven't advocated private choice, which i also think would be important. and they're saying all the right things about performance pay for teachers, so while it's a work in progress, i give him high marks, because from his perspective, he's on the left and he's taking on a core constituency. and anytime that happens from the left or right, based on principle, based on conviction, you've got to give people credit. >> are you surprised that teachers' unions are now going to have to be the ones, they're going to have to start defending policies that many of us believe are indefensible? >> if you play offense, whether it's in sports or policy world, you win eventually. so by advocating and pushing reform in varying forms across the country, who are the primary

opponents to every reform of any significance? it's the teachers' union. and eventually you can't just play successful defense all the time. >> but what was the tipping point? it was like one day i showed up on set and everyone around the table said, the problem with education are that teachers' unions won't allow reform. when did that happen? why did that happen? >> i think it partially happened because of the philanthropic support of charter schools up here in the capital. >> what happened in harlem? >> that's a significant factor, because it makes it okay, socially acceptable to be supportive of reform. and those things are great for the kids that are in those schools and the parents. it's a spectacular learning environment. but remember, if you pay 20 grand per student, as exists here in new york city, are those schools transformative? are they going to bring about -- can that be scaled? will that bring about change in

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let's say a few things that would really lose the election for you if you were contested. i enjoy cocaine because -- >> i enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do. >> okay, so poor robert, a good friend of mine, did that years ago. it's still up there, and what does that prove, willie? >> colbert's like herpes. >> the internet is forever. >> yeah. what did you learn today? >> i learned that